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Fidelity-Class Troop Ship
After the devastation of the Sangheili Armed Forces Fleet when High Charity broke Quarantine from Delta Halo, Sangheili battle doctrine was forced to adapt to their sudden lack of orbital supremacy. As part of the rearmament program that followed the conclusion of hostilities between the UNSC and the SAF, the Fidelity-Class Troop Ship was created by the designers of the Morhekan Orbital Shipyards, entering service in 2554, and seeing combat for the first time at the Battle of Unmoving Virtue. Though extremely effective, a number of design faults were revealed during the battle, and the fall of the Morhekan Shipyards in 2557 prevented more from being constructed, leaving their production run at a mere five. These have seens been assigned to Sangheili Special Forces. History Ever since the conclusion of the Sangheili-San'Shyuum War, Sangheili tactical and strategic doctrine has placed a preiminence on naval superiority, with a minor focus on atmospheric combat. In the Covenant's campaign against humanity, this doctrine saw little change - the sheer ineffectiveness of the UNSC Navy against their Covenant counterparts meant that the Covenant always retained orbiotal superiority, regardless of the ground campaign, and could glass a planet at leisure if they could not secure it with conventional ground tactics. The Great Schism changed many things, forcing the Sangheili to adapt rapidly. In the chaos of the Schism, the Sangheili suddenly found themselves in the unprecedented position of numerical inferiority against a force that possessed ships comparable to their own. Though their inherent tactical and strategic prowess and superior familiarity with their own technology gave them somewhat of an edge, they could no longer afford to field warships in the numbers and manner in which they once had, forced to use them more selectively. In the years afterward, as the Sangheili Armed Forces rebuilt itself, the decision was made that infantry combat would once again be given the priority. As part of this, the Fidelity-Class Troop Ship was commissioned by the SAF Fleet, designed and constructed at the Morhekan Naval Shipyards. Progress was swift - plans had been drawn up prior to the Schism, and although they hadn't passed Prophet approval, they were readily adopted by the wounded SAF Fleet and construction was rapid. By 2555, more than seven hulls had been laid down, with two ships already entering service; the Fidelity and the Loyalty. Though possessing most of the traits that would make the few Fidelity-Class ships successful, the two were also heavily modified by the SAF Fleet so serve as combined stealth reconnaissance/covert insertion ships, with active camouflage systems installed to better facilitate these roles. Deployed at Unmoving Virtue, the two collected valuable intelligence for the SAF on the state of the colony's defences and infrastructure, working in tandem with two UNSC Prowlers, the Nighthawk and Hunter's Arrow. As the battle commenced, they inserted the R'runu Warrior Creche via Orbital Insertion Pod, remaining in orbit with further reinforcements, and to provide orbital intelligence to ground forces and naval forces alike. As the battle above the colony geared up in earnest, the two ships de-orbited in unison, entering the planet's atmosphere, finally entering the battle themselves, deploying a portion of the Voltakran Legion, and serving as airborne weapons platforms to support SAF and UNSC ground forces against the heavily entrenched Blood Covenant defenders. As members of the 506th ODST Force Recon Battalion took and destroyed the shipyards, the Fidelity and Loyalty busied themselves wiping out the Jiralhanae forces, using their battery of laser turrets and single plasma torpedo launcher. While the Fidelity began mopping up operations, the Loyalty focussed on evacuation of the surviving Sangheili civilian slaves. Though they had more than proven their worth, the deployment of the Fidelity and loyalty had revealed important flaws in the design. The laser artillery was imprecise, as likely to destroy the objective as its defending military units. Further, their active camouflage systems seemed unable to function in an atmosphere, leaving them visually exposed when their entire purpose was as stealth ships. These were corrected in the next production run, the Faith, Devotion, and Commitment, the only other ships to enter service due to delays in redesigning the flawed components. By 2557, five ships had entered service, with another seven under construction. Unfortunately, the destruction of the shipyards during the Battle of Ketesh saw the rest of the line annihilated by the Blood Covenant counterattack, and though more would be produced after the New Covenant-UNSC-Sangheili Non-Aggression Pact was signed in 2561, the loss of much of the Morhekan designers and resources was a great blow to the design. Design Compared to past Covenant ships, the Fidelity-class is little different, at least in terms of aesthetics. It still retains the curved architecture of it's forebears, as well as a similar internal layout - the bridge and engineering compartments are buried deep in the ship, to prevent avoidable damage. Likewise, in terms of protection and propulsion, it is indistinguishable from pre-Schism ships. It utilises a Forerunner-derived slipspace matrix, allowing the ship to travel at 38 lightyers per hour, and it mounts an effective, if inefficient, repulsor thruster at the aft of the ship, with directional control thrusters spaced along the hull. What sets it apart is its armament and role - while it possesses six pulse lasers and a single plasma torpedo launcher, these are not intended solely for space combat, though they are certainly capable of it. Rather, they are meant to support ground forces, either from orbit or much closer. Moreover, several variants mount an effective active camouflage system, allowing them to fill the role of stealth reconnaissance and troop insertion ships. Each ship can carry more than two hundred warriors, although they only possess enough launch tubes for thirty Orbital Insertion Pods per ship - rather, most of its occupants are disgorged directly onto the battlefield, either by dropship or by gravity life - Fidelity-class ships are designed to enter a planet's atmosphere, and continue to support ground forces with its laser artillery battery and plasma torpedo launcher. The laser and plasma weapons benefit greatly from human-derived improvements to the originally Forerunner technology, and are more effective and efficient than older ships. Their shield generators are also more effective, although UNSC Solid Light Barrier technology has yet to be offered to the Sangheili, and is not entirely certain that the Sangheili, loathe as they were to accept the neccessary weapons improvements, would accept such an offer. Ships of The Line *Fidelity *Loyalty *Faith *Devotion *Commitment Quotes *"You look at it, and you think "it's the size of a frigate, but it has far less firepower." And that's true, but you have to remember that each weapon requires systems within the hull to support it - and when you think about how much of the ship is dedicated to cargo and personnel storage, its a miracle it has any armaments at all." *"My platoon was pinned down by an AA Wraith on Unmoving Virtue. This thing passes over, fires off a salvo from its lasers, and everything goes quiet. We peek over our cover, and dammit, the thing destroyed the Wraiths, the battalion of troops supporting it, and the objective too. They need to work on their accuracy." *"Pray you never have to be aboard one when it makes a combat insertion. The hull is certainly not the most aerodynamic of shapes, and the heat renders the shields useless for defence against ground defences." *"Its supposed to be a spaceship, right? Its more like the biggest dropship I've ever seen!" Category:Aircraft Category:Sangheili